Chapter Text
A crackle of static knocked Carrie Henderson out of the daydream she’d been having, the sound of a familiar voice bringing her back to reality.
“Earth to Carrie, it’s Dustin, over”
She scanned the shelves underneath the counter until her eyes fell upon the CB radio that her younger cousin had insisted on buying when she returned to Hawkins after dropping out of college. The device sparked into life again.
“Carrie, did you speak to Scott yet? Are you getting that stock? Over”
“Quit bothering me at work Dustin, I’m busy, over ”
Right before the boy on the other side of the channel started to speak again, she twisted the knob on the front of the radio to ‘off’. She gave a low sigh, looking up at the clock on the wall next to her. Another boring shift with barely any customers was over. Carrie checked her hair in the glass of the computer monitor on the counter as she gathered her belongings into a tatty old canvas tote bag, the remnants of what could have been a college logo barely visible under all of the doodles that had been penned into the fabric with an old sharpie. A quick stop to the breakers in the basement to turn off the power for the night, and she was on her way out of the door, flipping the sign to read ‘ sorry, we’re closed ’ as she left.
The door locked with a faint click, as Carrie turned the key in the barrel. She turned around to lean against the glass, lighting up a menthol cigarette in the glow of the neon sign of the comic book store she’d ended up working at since she had arrived back. Hawkins had changed since she left for college, and seeing as her parents were out of the picture, she hadn't been back since she had turned 18 two years ago.
Things were definitely different, but Carrie couldn’t quite put her finger on why. Maybe she had changed too much, and it was her not the town, after all she was a bit of a priss before she left. Her mind wandered, and she continued to take drags from her cigarette as she contemplated, arms crossed, eyes staring off into the distance. It was then that she noticed how long she had really been standing outside, and made a start on walking back home, her radio crackling as she turned it back on to talk to her cousin on the way back home.
“Why do you always turn your radio off on me? It's supposed to be so we can talk, not ignore each other! Over. ”
“Dustin I swear to god I have to actually work sometimes you know?”
“But did you get the stock? Or is it coming? Our friends in that D and D club want to know, over.”
“I won’t lie to you, I’m not exactly ecstatic about trying to sort this.”
“Oh come on, we’ve been waiting weeks!” an unfamiliar voice chimed in. Carrie knew all of Dustin’s friends, or at least she thought she did, so why she didn’t recognise the voice she wasn't sure.
“What did I say about letting your friends use our channel?” she hissed into the receiver as she turned the corner onto her street, “look I’m home now, I’ll sort this with Scott tomorrow, okay? And for the love of god please stop asking me.”
Carrie fumbled around in her bag, eventually pulling out her house key, and entered her house. She was lucky to have this place, since her grandmother died and left the house to her aunt, she was only being charged ten dollars a week to stay there, plus whatever bills she racked up each month. In fact, she was lucky to have even found such a well paying job for what it entailed, considering that while Hawkins wasn’t the most luxurious town, it certainly wasn’t the cheapest place to live either.
She locked the door behind her, and kicked off her well worn converse onto the floor by the coat rack. Tote bag and radio went with her into the kitchen, and were set down on the breakfast table as she searched for something to eat. Settling on the bagel bites that were left over from the night before, Carrie thought about the unfamiliar voice she’d heard crackle through the static earlier. As far as she knew, Dustin still hung around with the same group of people from before she left for college. Sure, Will and his brother and that weird girl she’d been told about had moved to california, but he never mentioned any new friends.
To be fair, I have only seen them in passing, I haven’t been back that long… she thought to herself as she ate, settling down on the sofa in the living room, maybe I just missed the new people.
It wasn't long until her train of thought dragged her into a deep slumber, and she spent the night out like a light on the couch.